Alive HR

Years ago, I dined with a couple who had two rambunctious toddlers. The boys spent most of the time climbing over the top of our booth and crawling under the table. That is to say, when they weren’t knocking things over or interrupting adult conversation. It was very distracting.

On the drive home, my partner and I turned to each other and declared somewhat pompously and self-righteously: “Our kids would never act like that!”

Fast forward several years when I became a mom and despite my best efforts, my own son was known to be quite distracting and disruptive when we went out to eat.  You know what I learned? Three things. 1.) I really don’t need to be that self-righteous. 2.) The developmental level of most toddlers is not conducive to sitting quietly for hours and hours while adults share good conversation over a leisurely meal and a bottle of wine. 3.) And more to the point: it is not so easy to raise perfect children.

News flash: If it was so easy, everyone would do it.

That story came to mind when I read April Dowling’s recent PseudoHR blog post, Customer service is like, hard and stuff. April, I just have to respectfully disagree.

If customer service was easy, every business would have great customer service.

I would submit that customer service is hard. Customer service is not simple, nor is it something you set up one time, forget and go on. It is an ongoing process, a journey, one that requires vision, planning, systems, training, continuous attention, energy as well as significant and devoted resources.

I wish I could offer flawless customer service in my department, but let me share the reality: every day someone is unhappy with me or my associate. Every day, we fall short in someone’s eyes despite our best efforts.

Somewhat tangentially (and totally unrelated to April, let me assure you), you know what else? The customer isn’t always right. Maybe we should stop oiling the squeaky wheel when the squeaky wheel is disrespectful or crosses over the line or is trying to play us.  Sometimes you need to be prepared set a boundary or say no or kiss a customer good-bye when they bully your employees. Or when the cost of keeping them is more than they are potentially worth.

Do you agree? What do you think?

photo by James Cridland